


Happy Ending

by conversekitten



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, just wait until the end for the big twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 10:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18341582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conversekitten/pseuds/conversekitten
Summary: Sometimes the ones you lost can be sitting right next door.





	Happy Ending

Wally held the Boris plush against his chest as he sat in his broom closet, small tears trickling down his face and dropping onto his corduroy brown pants. The Boris plush had been a gift from Shawn Flynn for his and wally’s three month anniversary but now it held a bittersweet reminder that the Irishman had left him for someone else. He wiped a few tears away but when he looked at the Boris plush and it’s sweet face he was reminded how Shawn said Wally was cute like a plush. A fresh wave of tears flowed from Wally’s eyes and a strangled sob crawled out of his throat as he threw the doll against the wall, said toy squeaking and falling to the floor on its side. 

The door opened and Wally looked up recognizing Bertrum Peidmont through his haze of tears. Wally wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve and gulped down his emotions before speaking.

“H-hey Mr. Peidmont. I’m…I’m sorry I wasn’t workin’ but I’ll get on it. J-just please don’t tell Mr. Drew or I’m fired n outta here.”

The well dressed man furrowed his brow which caused his forehead to crinkle and show his age. He let out a long suffering sigh and pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket handing it to Wally.

“Please Mr. Franks do the decent thing and dry your eyes and nose with a handkerchief instead of your sleeve. Did not your mother teach you manners?”

Wally took the handkerchief and blew his nose before wiping his eyes and sniffing. 

“No, she wasn’t around much when I was growin’ up. My pop raised me mostly along with my uncles. My pop was a wiseguy.” 

Bertrum fought the urge to rudely roll his eyes and smoothed down his suit jacket. 

“Well one can hardly imagine being raised by a mob affiliate but I digress. Now please stop this moping about and bring with you your mop and bucket. There’s a large mess in the production department due to a machine malfunction.” the man said curtly before moving to the side to allow the blonde twenty something to exit the closet. Wally sniffled one last time before gaining a burst of courage to face the day and grabbed his mop and mop bucket before exiting the closet with a familiar air of confidence. Bertrum closes the door and walks beside Wally to the production department, the only noise being Bertrum’s high class dress shoes on the wooden floor next to Wally’s sneakers.

They reach the department and Wally groans seeing that there was indeed a large mess around the octopus ride. Bertrum looked at his pocket watch and nods. 

“Best get started. Benton is to be here soon and I won’t have any accidents on the job after the last debacle.” he said before retiring to his desk. Wally secretly stuck his tongue out at Bertrum as his back was turned and said man stopped. 

“Need I remind you to respect your elders Mr. Franks?” 

Wally was stunned. “How did you…..aw fugget about it.” he said before going to the sink to fill the bucket with hot water. After an hour Wally was able to clean the mess and he sighed standing back and admiring the clean floors. Without looking up from his work Bertrum nods. 

“A fine job Mr. Franks. Now please ,make yourself scarce for I have far too much work to do and I do not need a rambunctious young man such as yourself taking up my valuable time.” 

Wally scowls and rolls his eyes before grabbing his mop and bucket and storming out of the room almost walking into Lacie. 

“Woah where’s the fire there kid?” 

Wally sighs. “Sorry there miss Lacie. Just upset is all cause Mr. Peidmont is bein a jerk.” 

Lacie rolls her eyes. “Yeah he’s an old bat so don’t let him get ta ya. Never been the kinda guy ta like the younger generation. Course I got no problem with ya so long as ya keep yer nose clean.” 

Wally smiles and nods and Lacie ruffles his hair over his hat before she walks into the production department. Later that day during lunch Wally had finished his sandwich and apple so he thought he would take a walk. He whistled a tune to himself as he walked down the hallway but stopped when he heard Shawn’s distinct laugh. He looks around the corner to see Shawn laughing and talking with Thomas. Wally felt his throat tighten when he saw that same gleam in Shawn’s eyes that the man had had on their first date. Tears bubbled up in Wally’s eyes as he turned and ran back down the hallway, his chest feeling tight. He didn’t even notice that he had ran straight to the production department and nearly collided with bertrum’s desk. 

Before Wally had collided with the desk Bertrum had picked up his tea so it wouldn’t spill all over his work.

“Mr. Franks! I do believe I have said in the past to keep your wits about you and not run into my-” 

He stopped talking when he saw Wally was sobbing and the man sighed putting his tea down and standing. 

“Mr. Franks please get a hold of yourself and sit down.” 

Wally sniffled and hiccuped but he obeyed sitting in the chair across from Bertrum’s chair. Said man went over to his tea kettle and poured another cup of tea for Wally and took it to the distraught youth. Wally took the tea, mumbled a  thank you, and sipped it. Bertrum sat down in his chair and cleared his throat.

“Now when you have composed yourself tell me what has you so troubled.” 

Wally nods and after sipping his tea for a few minutes he finally found the strength to tell Bertrum everything that had happened over the past couple of days. Bertrum listened silently then when Wally was done he sighed rubbing his eyes. 

“So all of this crying business is over a petty break up? You’re an adult my boy so a matter such as this should not cause you such heartache.”

Wally looks down, nodding. “But….I thought he really cared about me.” 

Bertrum scoffed. “A drunk such as him? They only care about one thing which is where their next shot of whiskey will be coming from. A young man such as yourself should find a gentleman more suited to your needs. I know I am an old man to you and I have never married but I do know that a healthy relationship is built on trust and devotion instead of petty emotions. Feelings come and go my boy but actions speak louder than words. Unless someone is willing to show their love to you then they are wasting your time.” 

Wally looks up at Bertrum his eyes filling with realization that the man was right. Shawn had always just said sweet words to him but had never really acted upon his promises such as staying sober, moving in together, or going steady. Wally set his tea cup down with a smile.

“Yer right Mr. Peidmont! I deserve to be happy!”

Bertrum smiles and nods. “Glad to be of service my boy. Now stop moping about and go resume your duties before Mr. Drew pays a visit.”

Wally nods running out of the room with a grin on his face as Bertrum gets back to work but behind the wall Joey was peeking through a hole. He growls and narrows his eyes. 

“There’s no way I’m going to let you ruin my company again Bertie.” he growls before walking off and pulling a small spell book out of his shirt pocket. Bertrum continued with his work but when he reached into his desk drawer to pull out a notebook he heard a creaking noise. He looked down and saw that a plank in the floor was uneven with the rest of them. Mystified he got up from his chair and knelt down using a screwdriver to pry the floorboard open before discovering a single item underneath.

A box.

He reached in and pulled the box out of the hole and opened it to reveal a photograph. He sat in his chair and his eyes widened when he saw a young version of himself standing next to a blonde haired woman dressed in wedding attire. His hands started to sweat when he turned the picture over and saw the words “Never Forget your Happy Ending” written on the back.

In his handwriting.

Bertrum gulped turning the picture over and staring at the woman a sense of dejavu coming over him. He had seen that woman before and her eyes were so familiar to him but……..where? Bertrum groaned feeling a headache start to form as he rubbed his eyes. He looked up and saw a picture on the wall of all of the staff on the third year anniversary of the studio being open. Bertrum frowned picking up the picture and walking towards the picture. He slowly took the photo off of the wall and with shaking hands he held the photo of the woman up next to the picture of Wally Franks.  

The facial structure.

The eyes.

That smile.

Bertrum dropped both photos and he broke out in a sweat as memories threatened to surface. Memories that had been buried so deep within the recesses of his subconscious that it felt painful bringing them back into the light. He had always felt a sense of protection over Wally ever since he had met the boy on the first day of work. But……….

Bertrum groaned in pain, his headache growing worse as a memory came to him this one being of a woman holding his hands as they said vows to each other. 

He saw her face, a gentle and sweet woman with green eyes and blonde hair with light freckles on her face. 

Bertrum fell to his knees his head pounding and his throat becoming sore as he saw her smile and then it flashed to her handing him a baby wrapped in a blue blanket. He saw the baby smiling up at him with green eyes full of love. Hot tears poured from his shut eyes as the memory jumped to another, this one being of someone handing him a contract with a familiar signature on it. The contract suddenly turned to a bloodied knife, then it turned into a cup of tea and Bertrum didn’t hear careful footsteps behind him as he looked up to see a face in the memory. 

Joey Drew’s grinning face met his gaze. 

Bertrum’s eyes flew open just as two arms wrapped around his neck in a choke hold. Joey hauled Bertrum to his feet and squeezed his arms around the man’s neck causing him to cough and wheeze, his hands clawing at Joey’s shoulders.

“So you figured it out huh? Well may as well give you what you want, huh? It was rather tricky to find an immortality spell for myself seeing as my health wasn’t all that great. I had a dream after all and I didn’t want anything getting in my way, right?”

Bertrum gagged and gasped kicking his legs. Joey smirked applying a little more pressure.

“So much to my surprise the spell worked! Now all that I needed was a studio to create my dream and that’s where you came in Bertrum. I had heard of your incredible talent and thought that you would be the perfect person to make my dream come true. So I hired you to make my studio and it was all fine and dandy until you and your wife went and had our little Wally.” 

Bertrum wheezed his face starting to turn red from lack of oxygen. Joey continued to slowly apply more pressure, a sick grin on his face.

“I was concerned that with a family you would get distracted from your work and therefore my dream would be put on hold. Now I couldn’t risk that seeing as I’ve never been one to be patient with people so I had to take action. Then enters a lovely crime family by the name of Capini who agreed to carry out my request in exchange for a child of their own to raise, seeing as the boss and his wife couldn’t conceive.”

Bertrum felt tears trickle down his reddening face as his lungs felt like they were full of fire and his heart hurt as he realized what Joey had done. Joey licked his lips as he continued. 

“It was so easy to get your address and to make sure that you were out of the house and here at the studio where you belonged. They reassured me that it was quick and painless and your wife didn’t feel a thing when they cut her throat. They were so quiet and careful that they didn’t even wake up Wally when they carried him out of the house. Of course a nosy neighbor rang for the police but they were long gone before the authorities got there. I never thought I would see you cry the way you did when the police told you what happened. Of course it was just a simple task of creating a tea from my spell book that was specially made to induce memory loss. I made it just for you after I pulled you into my office and after drinking it you went under like a patient of a hypnotist. Who would have thought that by saying just a few sentences then snapping my fingers you would forget your family entirely?”

Bertrum choked as his face started turning blue and Joey leaned in to whisper in his ear. 

“And you know what the best part is? Wally never knew that his father was sitting right across from him.” 

Joey let his grip loosen a little putting both hands on the sides of bertrums head and said man let out two last words. 

“My son.”

Then with a sick grin and scarlet eyes Joey snapped bertrums neck turning his head a full 360 degrees. The body fell to the floor and Joey looked down at the man who lay next to the two photos of his once beloved family. 

Joey chuckles. “So much for a happy ending.”

The End.     

**Author's Note:**

> Excuse me while I go collapse and die from angst.


End file.
